


Kevin and the Monster

by Prodigal_anon



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Anxiety, Eventual Happy Ending, Gen, Monsters, Panic Attacks, Tickling, kevin's trying to cope, not actually fluffy, tickle monster - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 16:15:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9556814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prodigal_anon/pseuds/Prodigal_anon
Summary: The Winchesters accidentally brought a monster back to the bunker with them - and they decided to let it stay.  The resident prophet is extremely unhappy about it.





	

\-----Written as a gift for [Wordstrings](http://wordstrings.tumblr.com/post/102379365845/kevin-and-the-monster), who created Fritzy  :)  I wrote this to try to sort out my own feelings about trust and consent.-----

 

Kevin didn’t used to think of himself as a control freak.

Maybe he still wasn’t. Because control freaks acted a certain way, and it wasn’t how he acted. Right? He was just acting stressed. For understandable reasons.

See, back when he’d just been another guy (albeit a smart and talented guy in advanced placement), he had gotten to that place in his life by taking control. If he did x, then y. Study and get good grades. Practice and improve skill. Write this essay to earn this scholarship. Attend this seminar to join this group to get this reference. Sometimes things went off the intended result but for the most part: if x, then y.

Enter the Winchesters.

Now he knew nothing. The skills he carefully perfected over years - useless, for the most part, replaced by a new skill he had no control over and, though that particular clusterfuck with the tablets was in the past, he was still a prophet until the day he ceased to exist, and that still drew monsters to him on occasion. Monsters he hadn’t had the skills to fight. He had to learn new skills that were counterintuitive and which offended his logical mind, and they weren’t foolproof, and sometimes didn’t work, which offended him more. If x, then y, dammit!

But that was his life now. Now, sometimes if x, then coma for three days, or crazy monsters pouring up out of the ground. 

Or Crowley came around for something again. Smooth and polite and always solicitously asking after Kevin and his mother.

Kevin became slightly obsessed with controlling the things he could, and it helped put him at ease. His room was off-limits and not to be touched, for example. Holy water got shot at the person at the door, no matter who they were. He began keeping track of where everyone was in a room, and where he was in relation to a door or wall.

Charlie’s occasional presence in the bunker added a levity and cheerfulness to the atmosphere that was desperately needed - not just by Kevin, but by all of them, though Kevin was still slow to join the fun. Charlie started adding mandatory movies/snacks to their evenings, taught Cas how to play Mario Kart, went shopping with Dean, discussed Star Wars with Sam. They all got into this thing where they tickled the crap out of each other randomly, yelling and giggling and going for sweet spots, apparently taking delight in making each other flail around. Charlie was the weakest of the four but held her own by being less wildly ticklish than the guys. She pouted at Kevin, who only watched and never joined in, and told him he needed to cheer up, and poked his ribs, but politely stopped when he flinched away.

He attended the movie nights, but continued to keep track of the doors and walls.

It was into this situation that “Fritzy” arrived.

 

 

Gigglefritz was the invisible dimensional shifter monster that Dean accidentally brought back with him after a hunt. It turned out that this thing fed on laughter and good feelings… which meant in practical application that it was a tickle monster. Because of course it was. But hey, at least that made as much sense as all the other crap.

But why was it a good idea to _keep_ a creature like this?!

It attacked Kevin once, when it first smuggled itself in, and he’d nearly had a full meltdown. It had tickled at him wildly, and no amount of desperate flailing could remove it, and he started panicking. All he could think of was that Crowley must have gotten past the wards somehow and was fucking with him. The demon would amuse himself this way for - a while? An eternity? And then he’d take Kevin away to a dark hole in Hell while the Winchesters shrugged and carried on, maybe wondering what had become of him but probably not -

The tickling intensified as the sensation of a tentacle found its way to the center of his armpits, his weak spot, targeting him brutally and without cease, and he went airless with laughter and helpless panic…

There was a shout behind him, and footsteps pounding towards him, and abruptly the tickling stopped and he sagged to the ground, panting.

“Dammit! We almost had it!” Dean was lamenting. “Dude, you couldn’t have kept it here another few seconds?”

Kevin stared at the tiled floor, wheezing, feeling that he could almost weep with relief.  He summoned air:  “How.  How did.  Crowley.  Get here?”

He looked up to see Dean and Cas, both with identical frowns of confusion.  “Wait, what?  Crowley?  What about him?”

“Was, wasn’t that – him?  Just now?”  Kevin gestured vaguely at his body, recently assaulted, getting confused himself.  Wasn’t it obvious…?

Dean laughed at that.  “Ah, no, heh.  Though I guess I wouldn’t put it past him, the little weirdo.  We’re, uh… looking for an invisible tickle monster.”

In the days to follow, in the unnerving search for this thing, the explanation didn’t become any less bewildering or creepy.

Once they finally caught it, of course, it shouldn’t have come as any surprise to Kevin that they decided to keep it.  Everyone (besides Kevin) thought it was adorable and fun and all their dreams apparently were coming true now that they had their own domestic tickle monster.  Sam even made a collar for it, for fuck’s sake.  And so Gigglefritz became part of the gang (who the hell had named it that anyway??).  The tickle monster was a big hit.  Dean and Cas volunteered to feed it twice a day, which seemed to keep it sated, so whatever, they could deal with that.  They snagged Sam on occasion to give him a “snack,” which Sam succumbed to after a struggle, howling in protest as they dragged him off to the “feeding couch” as they called it.

The other Winchesters-by-extension adored it too.  Benny made one of his infrequent visits (the bakery kept him busy), and Dean sneak-attacked him by lobbing the little monster in a soft underhand that caught the vampire completely off-guard.  He began laughing immediately, loud rolling chuckles, and Dean was laughing smugly at his friend right up until Benny, realizing he couldn’t dislodge the little beast, summoned the will to launch himself at Dean and wrap him in a tight bear hug.  Soon both of them were shrieking on the floor, while Sam took pictures and Kevin sidled away to his room.

Charlie thought it was the best thing that had ever happened, and pretty much stopped wearing socks or shoes when she visited.  She’d come up with a couple of games to play with the monster - one where the “meal” had thirty seconds to perform a task; for example, stack all the Jenga blocks correctly, or sing the national anthem, or something, and if he/she couldn’t accomplish it, then everyone else in the room ganged up and helped the monster with its meal.  Or, more horrifyingly, she’d set up a couple of little buzzers on timers here and there throughout the bunker, and when they went off randomly, that meant it was snacktime and it was a free-for-all to fight it out and pick a snack for the monster.

By unspoken agreement no one made Kevin be a snack, though Dean often threatened it and Charlie had tried tugging him along once.  He’d said no, and no again when she teased and pulled harder, and then, panicking, he’d hit her arm harder than he’d meant to.  She’d let go immediately and he’d gaped, shaking and wide-eyed, knowing he’d overreacted but still feeling the fight-or-flight response coursing through his veins, so he’d blurted an apology and run to his room to hide.

Kevin began spending a lot of time in there now, listlessly browsing the Internet or playing a game, and for the most part Fritz seemed to have little interest in him.  There were other meals, after all, who pretty much set themselves out on a platter for the creature.  But he couldn’t stop feeling tense and strained all the time now.

It was a nightmare.  Everytime they all started tickling each other, or holding each other down for the monster, Kevin started feeling a nervousness that made him feel ill.  What if they did it to him.  What if they didn’t stop until he cried or threw up, humiliated himself.  What if they never-  

“I’m going to stay with Charlie,” he informed them one day a few weeks later, after Cas had been left giggling on the floor for about twenty minutes.  Kevin had been the one to find him but didn’t dare approach, didn’t want the thing to latch onto him, and so he’d run to find Sam or Dean and they both snorted when he told them about Cas, how the thing had escaped its cage and found the angel.  They’d hauled themselves casually to their feet and sauntered along after him, grinning when they’d finally caught up to Cas who was squealing redfaced on the ground.  They’d taunted him, laughing and not helping, cheering when it seemed to have found a good spot somewhere, and definitely not noticing that Kevin was fighting off another panic attack.

They finally stepped in after Cas had begun gasping.  Dean had located the invisible creature by tracking the way Cas’s body was contorting, and then scooped it off of the angel, speaking to the empty air cupped in his hands about how it was a naughty little shit.  Sam helped Cas up to his feet – and then helped him over to the couch to lie down when it was apparent his legs wouldn’t support him.  The angel let himself be carried along, still giggling weakly, and commenting that it was fortunate for the Winchesters that Gabriel had not deigned to use this attack on their human bodies, as it was the sort of thing that would have amused the archangel (to which Sam didn’t quite reply, only coughed and looked away).

Kevin made a mental note that should he ever meet Gabriel, he would never do anything to draw the archangel’s attention to him (although, shit, weren’t archangels supposed to have that special interest in prophets or something?  How did they say that had happened with Chuck and Raphael??).  Kevin followed the three to where they settled Cas on the couch, and announced that he wanted to go to Charlie’s.

They made predictable faces at that: Dean snorted and gave him an incredulous look, as though he couldn’t believe Kevin was being such a baby about it.  Sam was making his “understanding” face, preparing to counter anything Kevin said with kindly logic.  Cas was watching him with a patient absence of understanding, expecting that the apparently foolish thing Kevin just said would be explained momentarily.  All in all, a total lack of sympathy in general.

“Fritz hasn’t been bothering you, Kevin.”  Sam pointed out gently.

“Only because I’ve been avoiding it,” Kevin said, irritated.  “Why do we even keep that thing around the place?”

“It’s not a thing, dude, it’s Fritzy and it’s staying.  You could probably quit avoiding everyone like a giant killjoy baby.”  Dean gave Kevin a flat look.

Sam intervened before the two of them could begin fighting.  “Don’t you think you’re overreacting a little?  He’s well-fed off of us already.”

“Putting aside your personal feelings, you must see that it’s useful to have a creature allied with our team that can incapacitate an angel,” Cas put in practically.  “Especially when it is older, Gigglefritz can be invaluable to preventing future attacks.  Particularly for you, as you are a prophet and incapable of much self-defense.”

“I’ll probably get attacked _here_ , by that thing!!”  Kevin retaliated angrily, wishing they could take this seriously, rather than delighting in having their weird tickling party toy living in one of the spare rooms.

Dean, for his part, looked as though he could barely contain his eye rolling. “Dude. It isn’t an _attack_. Fritz is a tiny little thing that tickles you for a few minutes, _if_ it bothers to mess with an angsty whiner in the first place. Get over it.”

“If it ever bothers you, you can just yell for us and we’ll come help you,” Sam assured him.

“It’s not a few minutes!  And you don’t help, you left Cas with it forever!   You’re just going to do the same thing with me!”

“Probably.  It’s funny.”  Dean drawled obnoxiously.

Sam shot Dean a look but Kevin was already done with this.  He stormed back to his room and shut himself in and really hoped the thing hadn’t figured out how to make its way there. This room had been his sanctuary.

They didn’t get it.  Even Sam, who was less of a dick about it, they didn’t get that Kevin was in control of _nothing_ in his life and this horrible little monster was capable of shattering any delusion that he could at least build a small safe space around himself if he was careful enough.

He heard them arguing about it later – Dean was adamant that Kevin was being an antisocial baby and he was dragging down the atmosphere of camaraderie and fun that they enjoyed in the bunker.  Well, that was paraphrasing it, but anyway.

Sam the fucking psychoanalyst was lecturing: “But you have to remember he’s new to all this still.  His whole life got flipped around, maybe he just needs time to adjust.”

“Adjust?! He’s been here for months, how much time does he need to fucking trust us?”

Cas interrupted, sounding mildly puzzled.  “He does not?  Why shouldn’t he?”

Kevin could practically see Sam’s grimace.  “Well – we did sort of screw him over.”

Dean’s voice did that thing, where it walked the line between resigned martyr and forced indifference.  “Like everyone else we know.  He can join the club and get a damn t-shirt.”

Kevin crept off without making himself known and decided that food wasn’t worth it that night.

He did end up spending a few nights at Charlie’s – she took him back with her after a visit, warning him that she could only stay for a few days before she was leaving with Dorothy again.  He nodded and was polite and almost at ease for a while, enthusiastically joining her for movies and card games and she could have been an upperclassman, one of the kids he hung out with so much before everything changed.  They wouldn’t have studied in the same fields but they could have bonded over this, the nerd stuff, and he was approaching happy when abruptly, in the middle of watching the Hobbit cartoon, he just had a meltdown, actually crying into his Domino’s.

“Shit.  Kevvy.  What’s wrong?”  Charlie muted the show and the goblins carried on their song in silence as she crossed over to him.

He choked it all out, about how things were before he was suddenly Prophet!Kevin; about Crowley and his mom and how the Winchesters fucked him over but he still had to live with them, had no choice but to stay with them; how they brought this fucking monster to live with them who survived by violating a person’s body and privacy and practically torturing them and everyone thought it was cute; how exhausted he was with trying to stay in control all the time in that bunker of chaos and he never knew if he was going to be abandoned along the road the Winchesters were driving, just one more piece of extra baggage that wasn’t a Winchester and so needed to be discarded.  And he couldn’t leave, they could discard him at any moment and leave him to founder in the wreckage of his former life and he couldn’t do anything about it because he depended on them.  At the end he apologized again for hitting her that one time and then cried again.

He cried like that for a ridiculously long time, soaking Charlie’s bright purple hoodie.  She said nothing, just hugged him and rubbed his back and let him do it, until he eventually fell asleep like that, worn out by the catharsis.

Kevin was almost too embarrassed to look at her the next day, but she scruffed his hair roughly until he finally swatted at her and grinned awkwardly.

“For what it’s worth, I think you’re selling us short.  We do care about you, you know.  Sam especially.”  She wouldn’t elaborate on what she meant by that.

Charlie must’ve talked to them because things were better after that, when she left to meet up with Dorothy and he went back to the bunker.  Sam greeted him warmly, Cas politely, and Dean gruffly with a hug and clap on the shoulder.  Gigglefritz was not present.

Just having wept about it all to Charlie, someone else who wasn’t as hardcore as the Winchesters and their angel, helped Kevin immensely.  He even began to tolerate Fritzy’s existence more, no longer fleeing the room when the “snack alarm” sounded, or flinching away from the sight of the floating collar, though he still declined to participate.  Everyone allowed this, including Fritzy, who avoided him in favor of the cheerfully ticklish in the room.

It worked great, until it didn’t.

There came a time when everyone was out at once – Dean and Sam on a hunt, and Cas with his weird new angel friend Hannah that Kevin hadn’t actually met yet. But things were cool now so Kevin was relaxing in the library reading from the stack of comic books Charlie had loaned him, when his phone rang.

Sam sounded stressed.  “A cerastes got Dean.  The horn looked like a fucking pie and Dean went for it.  It was an illusion –”

Kevin interrupted.  “He’s okay though?”

“Uh – yeah.  Well.  He’s going to be out of commission for a bit, but I’m trying to get hold of Cas, and we still need to kill the cerastes somehow.”

“Okay.  Tell him I hope he feels better soon.”  Kevin was already reaching for the stack of comics, but paused when there was silence on the other end of the line.

“Kevin… we’ve been gone for two days already… someone needs to feed Fritzy.”

Kevin’s blood went cold.  “We can call Charlie?”

“She’s still with Dorothy.  Kevin-”

“What about Benny?  Garth?”

“Garth is on the other side of the country and I don’t know how to get hold of Benny.  Kevin, please?  Charlie will be back soon.  It wouldn’t need to be much.”

Kevin closed his eyes, fighting off panic.  “Sam.  Sam, I can’t.  I can’t, I can’t deal with that, you know I can’t, please don’t make me…”

Sam sounded like he wanted to punch something in frustration.  “Kevin, please, I know you hate it, but we can’t get back.  Dean’s fucked up and I don’t know where anyone else is.  I don’t know when we can get back.  Kevin I have no one else to ask!  We can’t let it starve, it’ll die or go feral.”

There was a small threat there, though Sam didn’t mean it that way.  Letting Fritzy snack was what kept it civilized, and able to restrain itself from pushing its meals over the edge.  If it went hungry, it would go feral… and no one had to say they didn’t want that.  Especially Kevin.

“Fuck.  Fuck, fuck, _fuck_!” he snarled, throwing the phone at the wall hard enough to leave a mark.  He furiously ripped open the door to the library and stalked out, towards the living room with the Feeding Couch.

There was no cage for Fritzy anymore – it had outgrown it.  The creature seemed to be larger than any one of them anymore – or at any rate, certainly far stronger.  If it had gotten to this size before Kevin had spilled his guts to Charlie, Kevin would have bailed the fuck out of the bunker and taken his chances with the demons.  He’d managed to keep himself together lately though by calling Charlie when he needed to and keeping her reassuring words in mind.  No amount of phone calls or meditation was going to help now though.

Kevin paced around the room for a while, trying to calm himself and failing.  He remembered all the times Fritzy got the others. Cas, shrieking as his wings snapped out and were attacked.  Having angelic endurance backfired on him as it was nearly impossible to exhaust him.  Sam, wrapped up in invisible tentacles that teased over every inch of his legs and feet, unable to kick away, wheezing laughter.  Charlie’s tummy exposed and tickled mercilessly, her wild giggles echoing through the hallway.  Dean in hysterics, arms held back out of the way and legs bound together while the monster leisurely tormented his hips.  All completely helpless, at the creature’s mercy until it decided it was sated.  How could they stand it?  How could they welcome the total absence of control or ability to escape?

“Fuck,” he whispered to himself.  “Fuck, fuck, fuck…”  Kevin ripped off his socks and gripped the couch with white knuckles, then tried to whistle with dry lips.  He wet them, feeling his entire body shaking as he tried again.  Still not working.

“Fritz.  Fritz!” he called hoarsely.  “Fritz, fuck, get in here already for fuck’s sake.”

Kevin waited in tense silence for what felt like an hour but couldn’t have been more than a minute or two.  He kept replaying the times the others had been held aloft, limbs secured, helplessly shrieking in their torment.  He didn’t think he could summon the strength to call for the monster again; as it happened, it wasn’t necessary.

The collar appeared, hovering in the air in the doorframe, moving quietly with only the tingling of the bell.  Fritz itself made no noise.  Of their own accord, Kevin’s hands moved up to cover his face.

“Hurry up,” he managed.  He wasn’t going to leave this room.  Fritz would wrap him up in its powerful tentacles and that would be it.  Kevin would be lost, captured, just like when Crowley had him, exactly as out of control of his situation and suffering for the amusement of a more powerful creature.

Weight settled on him and he tensed, shaking badly.  Shit.  The fucking Winchesters and their fucking pet monster-

A tentacle touched his face and he jumped, eyes flying open and seeing nothing but the ceiling.  Kevin felt like he couldn’t even breathe, and he braced himself as…

…The tentacle began stroking his hair gently.  Kevin lay motionless.  Another couple of tentacles joined, carding through his short hair and occasionally stroking his jaw.  He didn’t move, just stared up at the ceiling, which had a poster taped to it that said “Yum! Yum! Dinner Time!” – Charlie’s decoration for the Feeding Couch.

This went on for a few minutes, as Kevin lay there and did nothing more than twitch occasionally and the tentacles began rubbing his shoulders a little, squeezing his feet, patting his hands, nothing that even sort of tickled.

He didn’t know how long he’d been sitting there before he shifted – or tried to.  Fritzy lifted off of him almost immediately, still lightly laying its weight on top of Kevin but not restricting his ability to sit up if he wanted.  Kevin did so, testing.  Sure enough, he sat right up unimpeded.  Fritzy’s tentacles still draped lightly on him, just barely touching, but not weighing him down.

“What…?” Kevin observed unintelligently, holding up a hand vaguely with no idea what he intended to do with it.  A couple of tentacles coiled around his palm and fingers, squeezing gently.  Kevin blinked again and held up his other hand, for the same thing to happen to that one.  A rush of nervousness filled him as he realized both hands were restrained, and he pulled them back – instantly the tentacles let go, allowing him to reclaim his hands.

Kevin frowned slightly, and turned a little towards where he thought Fritzy was.  A tentacle patted his face again and he twitched slightly but didn’t pull away.  He reached up his hand again and it was again coiled around by the tentacle, which extended cautiously down his arm a little further to his elbow.

“You’re supposed to be hungry,” he said, confusion filling his mind.  The tentacle patted his face again and stroked his hair.  Another tentacle was rubbing his back, easing down gradually and then, very gently, wiggled in his ribcage.

Kevin huffed a startled gasp and hunched over.  The tentacles again let go, waiting as he slowly sat back up.  He waited; they did nothing.  He raised his hands again.

“Okay…?” he said, and again there was a gentle poke to his ribs, and he huffed again, not quite laughing but getting closer.  The pokes increased slowly, into his ribs and belly, never too much, always backing off if he so much as thought of feeling nervous.  After a few tries of this, he was feeling actually – relaxed, and a feeling that he couldn’t quite identify, something like relief and – shock?  Surprised that this wasn’t so bad at all!  This was just – silliness, he could handle it, and Fritzy – wasn’t going too far.  If anything, the creature seemed to be more cautious than necessary.

“You’re actually pretty smart, aren’t you,” he asked a little abashedly during a break.  The tentacles wrapped lightly around his forearms and pet his hair again.

“…I’m sorry I was a dick,” he said, feeling stupid and not sure if Fritzy understood anything beyond basic emotions.  “It’s just – it’s scary, you know?  To not know what to expect… or expecting something awful.  But I guess… you’re actually not so bad…”  Kevin trailed off, feeling like an idiot.

Fritz didn’t reply, but its grip on Kevin’s arms tightened fractionally, and slowly the tentacles tugged his arms up, overhead, exposing his torso and armpits.  Kevin drew in a breath, but nothing more happened.  Fritz was waiting.  Kevin didn’t feel much pull on his arms; he suspected that if he really tried to pull them down, the grip would release instantly.

He didn’t pull his arms down.

He sat there a moment, just taking one breath after another until he was sure he was calm, and then he just said: “Okay.”

Tentacles started poking him again, in the ribs and tummy, which were more sensitive now that they were more stretched out.  Kevin began giggling and squirming a little, but didn’t pull his arms down.  The tentacles on his ribs and tummy slowed to a stop while more tentacles started squeezing his knees and flicking at his bare feet, which he was free to kick as his laughter increased.  The attacks to his lower body trailed off as well, and Kevin caught his breath, only to choke slightly when he next felt pressure on his armpits.

He gasped, and then shrieked as slender tentacle tips began wiggling in the soft, taut centers.  He jerked around, laughing wildly, and finally tugged hard at his arms.  They released him without pause, and he wrapped his arms around himself and flopped over onto the couch, giggling.

Fritzy’s tentacles began stroking him again, clearly worried it had gone too far.  “It’s fine,” Kevin said, holding up one hand.  The tentacle coiled around it instantly.  “It’s fine,” he repeated wonderingly, stroking his thumb over the tentacle in return.

He considered for a long moment, then swung his feet up on the couch, legs straight out in front of him, shoulders squared and toes wiggling enticingly.

Fritzy squeezed his hand and the game began again.

The games continued off and on over the next few days.  Kevin meant to call Sam back but found he couldn’t – he’d smashed the phone when he’d had his panic.  Luckily it was cheap.  He supposed he was glad anyway – he didn’t think he felt ready to tell Sam about this yet.

On the third day, Charlie burst in on him when Fritzy had him wrapped up lightly on the couch and was tickling his feet and armpits, alternating between the two and delighting in the changes in laughter it brought.  Fritz slowed but didn’t quite stop when Charlie entered, stopping in the doorway with a stunned look on her face.

“I… hurried over as fast as I could…” she began, watching in amazement as Kevin continued to squirm and giggle on the couch, blushing furiously.  He would have yelled at her for just standing there and not helping him, but he guessed it was pretty obvious he wasn’t in any distress.  “We were worried sick… Sam’s still with Dean, Cas has to stay there too to heal…him… ”

“Th-the heeehaha, the ph-phone broke, I could, could, c-cahahouldn’t call, eeheehehe, F-fritz, I just, sh-shit, Charlie could you eeheheek could you help?!”

A slow smile formed on Charlie’s face.  “Hold on a second Fritzy, would you? Stop a minute,” she said her command voice, the stern voice they used when someone needed to stop being a meal for a moment.

The tentacles obediently stopped, though they didn’t release Kevin.  Charlie languidly walked over to him and plunked down heavily on his legs, prompting another nervous flurry of giggles.

“So… are you back on the menu, then?” she asked mischievously, poking lightly at his waist and prompting another chuckle.  “Because I know some people who might find that veeeeeerry interesting!”  more pokes to his ribs, and Kevin flopped his head back on the couch, laughing again.

“You’re eeheeheevil,” he informed her, blushing and trying to bury his face in the fabric.

“Oh man.  You think this is evil?  Just wait till I tell Sam and Dean,” she cried gleefully, reaching behind her to very slowly draw her nails up over his bare feet, wiggling them gently and grinning when he burst into giggles again, writhing on the couch and hugging his face when Fritz released his arms after a moment (Fritz preferred to be safe rather than sorry, it seemed); and finally jerking upright to grab at her hands.

Fritzy coiled around his arm, squeezing once, and then suddenly Charlie’s hands were ones that were trapped, and got pulled straight up over her head as her eyes went wide with surprise.

Kevin grinned at her and eyed her belly where her shirt had ridden up a little, exposing soft skin beneath.

“You little shits!  Don’t you dare!”  Charlie squealed, laughing already and twisting as much as Fritz allowed, which wasn’t much.

Kevin poked one finger into her navel, wiggling it around and poking with his other hand at the rest of her tummy and smiling when she dissolved into laughter.  He stopped fairly quickly, still not comfortable with torturing someone helpless and she slumped back against the couch as Fritz released her too.

“I think – maybe – scheduled snacks,” he said, in answer to her question.  “I don’t – I’m not ready – uh.”

Still out of breath, Charlie was gesturing him to lean closer.  He did so, and blinked as she booped him on the nose.

“Okay, so no long attacks, just short ones.  And no surprise attacks.  Easy enough!  They’re not for everyone anyway.  We’ll just make sure you always see us coming,” Charlie emphasized by wiggling her fingers at him, making him chuckle again and swat her hands away.  She caught one hand and looked seriously at him.

“I think you can feel safe here,” she said.  “You don’t need to be in control with us.  I think the rest of us – that’s what we all need, that’s why we do it.  Just let someone else take the reins for a few minutes.”

“Yeah, well.” Kevin shifted awkwardly under the weight of Charlie and Fritzy.  “I’m not going to throw myself into your weird free-for-alls any time soon. But.”  She watched him expectantly.  Her hair was shifting slightly; he supposed Fritzy was stroking her hair too.  He took a breath.

“I guess I can start going around barefoot more,” he said awkwardly, and squawked as Charlie and Fritzy both snagged him for a hug.


End file.
